According to the calendar, fall doesn’t start until Sept. 22, but according to Orillia and area event planners, fall has already landed — with a bang. Here is some fall programming you don’t want to miss:
Mariposa Arts Theatre film nights are back, after a pandemic hiatus, and the whole fall lineup has recently been announced, so here it is: Wednesday Sept. 14: Scarborough; Wednesday Oct. 12: Ali and Ava; Wednesday, Nov. 9: Phantom of the Open; and Wednesday, Dec. 7: Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen.
All films are at 4 and 7 p.m., at Orillia’s Galaxy Theatre. Tickets are $15, cash only, and sales begin one hour before each showing. As usual, a great line-up of shows, this will be a wonderful fall season for this event.
Third Age Learning Lakehead (TALL), produced by the Lakehead University Orillia office of community engagement, has just announced its regular Wednesday morning fall lecture series will be both in-person, at St. Paul’s Centre, and virtual. So, you can choose how you would like to attend. Tickets are $59 plus HST for the five-week series, and the topic is Fault Lines & Fractures: Shifts in the Global Balance of Power.
This lecture series has a fantastic lineup of speakers, including Dr. Alexander Lanoszka, assistant professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Waterloo; and Dr. Danita Burke, a research fellow at the University of Southern Denmark, Northern Scholar Visiting Research Fellow at Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities, University of Edinburgh and the founder of the Women in the Arctic and Antarctic. Also featured are John Foster, an international oil economist with more than 40 years of experience; and Robert Latham, professor in the Department of Politics at York University in Toronto.
You can grab your tickets for the fall session of TALL here.
The Orillia Museum of Art and History (OMAH) just announced its fall programming, as well. Fabricated Forests with regional artist Amy Bagshaw, is a three-hour workshop for adults on Sept. 17 at 9 a.m. Participants will make their own sculptural forest scene with paint and yarn on a 6 inch by 12-inch frame. Cost is $40, $35 for OMAH members, and you can register here.
OMAH’s Virtual History Speaker Series continues apace with Home Children Canada: Breaking the Silence, a lecture on the British children who came to Canada during the war. The speaker is Lori Oschefski, President of Home Children Canada, and the virtual talk is on Sept. 21 at 7 p.m. To get the free Zoom link for the talk, click here.
Of course, OMAH has programming for children and families as well, including the Family Fun Days the third Saturday of each month, from 1 to 2:30 p.m. On Sept. 17 Family Fun Day will feature mural-making with Amy Bagshaw. Cost is $15 per child, adults are free, and you can register here.
Also, OMAH offers PA day camps, and the first one is Sept. 26 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Click here to register for the camp.
Not to be outdone in fall programming, Arts Orillia (formerly Orillia Centre for the Arts), also has some interesting workshops this month.
Memoir and Movement with Sara Porter is on Sept. 18 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Orillia Opera House. Memoir and Movement is billed as 'a dynamic, multi-disciplinary workshop for personal and professional exploration that draws on the uniqueness of each person's story and bodily experience.' Tickets are $25 and you can get them here.
Arts Orillia is also offering a five-day playwriting lab with Marcia Johnson, on Sept. 13, 20, 27, and Oct. 4, 11, from noon to 3 p.m. at the Orillia Opera House. Johnson will help playwrights to create scripts which focus on character and story. An emphasis will be placed on dialogue so one-person shows would not be the best fix. Each participant should have a script in development or at least a story idea. The course will consist of in-class exercises as well as homework assignments.
Cost is $25 for the whole five-day lab, and you can register here.
A dance performance, titled Heirloom, will be at the Leacock Museum on Sept. 22 at noon. This is co-produced by Arts Orillia and Fall for Dance North and is an outdoor performance, featuring dancing, juggling, and original music performed by a quartet at the beautiful museum grounds. It sounds breathtaking. For $25 tickets, click here.
The Orillia Opera House has a whole bunch of offerings this fall, including comedy, music, tribute bands, Louise Pitre, an Autumn Mariposa, and so much more. Click here for the full calendar, and to buy your tickets today.
Orillia Music Centre has a full range of teachers to cover all your kiddo’s musical needs, including drums, string instruments, guitar, brass, and vocal. Click here for more information.
Express Yourself Performing Arts also has lessons in voice, and is offering a six-week series in MAGIC, for those kids who are so inclined. This course is taught by Phil DaCosta and his wife Kristine, space is limited so click here to check it out and sign up your offspring today.
Don’t forget the Orillia Youth Centre’s Roots North Revisited concert is Sept. 17 with good food, good beer and good music! Click here to grab your tickets.
Also don’t forget the St. Paul’s Centre Welcome Back concert and reception, Sept. 10 at 7:30 p.m. with MC Lance Anderson, great performers, and lots more. Admission by cash donation, so please come along.
The Sunshine Ukulele Network is having its last outdoor ukulele Jam Sept. 13 evening from 6 to 7:30 p.m., in the courtyard outside the library, before moving inside for the colder months. Come out and see all the fun, and maybe you would like to sign up too!
Sept, 10 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. is the Orillia Fine Arts Association Mary Rose Yard Sale, at 154 Nottawasaga St. This raises money for the Mary Rose bursary, and there are always lots of great bargains to be had. Come check it out, bring your cash.
The Chris Robinson-Will Davis jazz duo will be playing Sunday, Sept. 11, from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Couchiching Brewery. Also at the brewery, Shane Cloutier on Sept. 8 from 6 to 9 p.m.
Sunday afternoons from 2 to 4 p.m., come join the Sunday Show at Picnic Tapas and Wine Bar. Featuring lots of great music and musicians including Mike Martin, Cassie Dasilva, Jenny Law, Scott Olgard, Sean Patrick, and Marshall Veroni.
Guest artist at Hibernation Arts this month is photographer Mike Bailey, come join in the opening reception this Saturday from 12 to 3 p.m. Guest artist at Peter Street Fine Arts (PSFA) is First Nations artist Brian Dwayne Sarazin. PSFA is open Tuesday to Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Phew! Have a great week, and if you have arts news, send it to [email protected] to be included.
